Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 1997-98

Contemporary Australian Art The New Installation of the Gallery's Collection places contemporary Australian art in Gallery 13, thus integrating it with the continuous narrative of Australian art since colonial times, and locating it adjacent to the galleries of contemporary Asian art. The most important acquisition of contemporary Australian art this year was a work by Robert MacPherson. His immense multipanelled painting Mayfair (Swamp rats) Ninety– seven signs for C.P., J.P., B. W, G. W & R.W was included in 'Space and Gravity', the Gallery's survey exhibition of recent Australian art in the Collection. This exhibition provided an opportunity to see the Gallery's impressive holdings of paintings and installations by some of the most prominent artists now working in Australia, objects which are in many cases so large that they can rarely be displayed in the space available for contemporary art in the existing Gallery building. The gift from Lyn Williams of a gouache painting done in Queensland by Fred Williams provided a particularly elegant illustration of the relationship between Queensland art and art from the rest of Australia and the Asian region . Mangrove rootlings 1973 combines Queensland subject matter with elements of Chinese calligraphy, in a work from an important point in this distinguished artist's career when his travels in Queensland brought him to the final, richly coloured phase of his work. During the year paintings dominated acquisitions in this area, and the diversity and quality of works acquired demonstrate the continuing vitality of this art form. This is apparent in two very different paintings: Anne Wallace's hallucinatory yet disturbingly realistic Damage, and Marion Borgelt's spiritually resonant abstract painting Icons and emblems: Silent sound no. IV The Gallery's commitment to the work of new and emerging Queensland artists was sustained with the acquisition of Christine Morrow's Blind widow. Indigenous Australian Art The prime focus for the Indigenous Australian art section this year was the exhibition 'Emily Kame Kngwarreye - Alhalkere - Paintings from Utopia'. Cultural commitments and links to the Indigenous community have been strengthened through various developments, including the establishment of an interim Indigenous consultative committee, the training of young Aboriginal curators and the maintenance of working partnerships with the Indigenous sections of the Queensland Museum and Griffith University, the Australian National University, and the local artists' collaborative, the Campfire Group. The establishment of a dedicated gallery for Indigenous Australian art in Gallery 2 as part of the New Installation has made it possible to provide our public with a survey of Indigenous art in Australia. This art form will also continue to be shown in other parts of the Gallery alongside the art of Left Official guests at the official opening of the 'Emily Kame Kngwarreye Alhalkere Paintings from Utopia' exhibition were: (from left) Greeny Purv,s Petyarre; Fred Torres; Sammy Petyarre, Barbara Weir; Gloria Petyarre; Rosemary Petyarre; Joy Petyarre; and L,ly Sandover. h I . d k I d h f h f. Opposite top left: ot er cu tures In or er to ac now e ge t e art o t e Irst I . . . II . .f. . h MORROW, Christine Austra tans as an InternatIona y sIgn1 Icant art movement wit · 1· Australia b.1969 an ancient ineage. Blind widow 1997 . . . . . Synthetic polymer paint and Pos1t1oned adjacent to the entrance of the Indigenous gallery Is . . . . found window blind toggle on the major recent acquIsItIon Two worlds, a monumental II b · k b B · b · M. h I E h I I • canvas with empty wooden co a oratIve war y ris ane artist Ic ae at er. nvo ving fifteen black and white Australian artists from urban and st retchers . h . . . . . b h . 6 wooden panels: 35.5 x remote regions across t e continent, It Is ImpressIve ot In h · I I d · I I d 1· · I · ·f· 35.5cm (each); unstretched p ysIca sea e an in cu tura an po ItIca sIgnI Icance. canvas: An acquisition which adds historical depth to our developing 38 x 76 cm; . . . . 152 5 x 76cm (overall) collection of early Papunya boards Is a desert paIntIng done on . . .. . Purchased 1997 Queensland a wardrobe door by Toby Brown Tjamp1tj1mpa. This desert work . . . Art Gallery Foundation Grant reflects the genesis of one of the major Indigenous art movements this century, and the purchase of a canvas by one . . . Opposite top right· of the founding members of this movement, Tim Payungka Tjapangarti, shows the shift from rawness to refinement. WALLACE, Anne A · · · f k b I · ·· k. · Australia b.1970 cquIsItIons o war s y nyuwa Namp1tjImpa, Ma IntI Napanagka and Eubena Nampitjin characterise developments Damage 1996 b d . . h 9 . f d Oil on canvas y women esert artists In t e 1 90s. In view o our propose retrospective of the work of Lin Onus, the acquisition of one of 134 x 165 cm . . . . . Purchased 1997 under the his earliest works, Menzies Creek mists c.1977 in the European landscape tradition, was a rare find. Contemporary Art Acqu,sit,on Program with funds from Alex Several important works from the Collection have been a nd Kitty Mackay th rough th e . . . . Queensland Art Gallery included In the Queensland Art Gallery's regional touring h.b. · 'S ·11 L'f R k' h li d. · 6 Foundation and the ex 1 ItIon tI 1e: ewor Ing t e ra ItIon 1 50-1994', . Queensland Art Gallery another at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and In a · h'b' · •T. · II 1· " Foundation Grant touring ex 1 ItIon, ,ypIca y Austra Ian r' Asian Art Opposite bottom MacPHERSON, Robert I · · f h · I f · Australia b.1937 n recognItIon o t e growing roe o contemporary Asian art as d f . · I f h · h 11 · d • Mayfair; (Swamp rats) Ninety- a e InIng eement o t e Collection, t e Ga ery appointe its first Assistant Curator of Contemporary Asian Art in December seven signs for C.P., J.P., B.w., 1997. With the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial now in planning for G.w: & R.w. 1994 · 95 1999 d h li · · I · · · h Synthetic polymer paint on an t e riennIa project set to continue into t e next h . II . . 11 . masonite century, t e contemporary Asian co ectIon wI continue to d d f . . . I . . II 97 panels: 92 x 61cm (each); expan an grow, con IrmIng its pace as an InternatIona y significant collection, and one unique to Australia. The new 370 x 1573 cm or 556 x 1069 cm . . (installed) curator will also be able to ensure that the collection develops in areas not related to the Triennial. Purchased 1998 with a special allocation from the 24 Queensland Government Celebrating the Queensland Art Gallery's Centenary 1895-1995